First Aid Kits

I don't know why it has taken me all of my adult life to do this, but I finally created a couple of first aid kits.  One for each car and then one for in the house.  Of course, I have had most of this stuff in my home, just scattered around so when a minor owie has happened I have had to go digging through my cavernous closet in the bathroom, thus prolonging someone's pain and/or bleeding.  Having stuff in the car is a novel idea for me, and so silly that I haven't done it because there have been countless times my kids have needed a band aid or a sliver taken out and I have had to tell them that they have to wait until we get home.  Not to mention the numerous times where I have needed an ibuprofen terribly and didn't have any.

While perusing the aisles at Target I saw this cute first aid bag, and since this idea has been turning in my head I decided to pick one up.  It was only $4.69, but if you bought 3 Johnson and Johnson products it was free.  Normally I shy away from name brand because of cost, but I bought the three cheapest things which ended up being two boxes of band aids and some waterproof tape that I needed anyway, and I ended up spending $6 on those three items and then got the case free.  (This sale is going on right now in case you were wondering.)  The cases come in red or silver but red is the more emergency image in my mind so I picked that one.

Outside of Kit

Inside of Kit

Here's what I have in my kit:

-Band aids.  Lots of them.  Plain ones for Chris, boy ones for the boys and girl ones for the girls.  Target makes cute, cheap but good quality, generic ones.

-5 small gauze pads

-5 large gauze pads

-waterproof tape

-tweezer

-3 assorted needles for slivers

-liquid skin

-bacitracin

-anti itch cream

-allergy medicine

-3 blister ampules

-thermometer

This is my house list.  I don't have any ibuprofen or tylenol in the bag because I keep those in the kitchen at the top of the cupboard next to the sink since they tend to be higher use for adults then the first aid kit, and it keeps them above where kids can get to them.  The kid versions of those medicines are in a basket on the top shelf of the bathroom closet, again to keep them out of the way of little fingers and also because they aren't high use items.  The car kits are exactly the same except they have a small ziploc baggie with ibuprofen in them.  On the outside of the baggie I wrote the dosage of the pill, what it is, and when it expires.  One thing I should maybe still pick up is a packet of those alcohol wipes.  Up until now I have thought of zero reasons to use those because they burn, but I suppose if I am going to use a needle to dig a sliver out of someone's body, I could wipe the needle to help sanitize it better then it currently is, especially if I am doing it in the car and have no other way to clean the needle or the person's body part.  

These make me feel uber organized, which I have to admit, my tend-to-be-sloppy self secretly loves.  Plus, I now feel good about not having to rifle through all sorts of bath stuff to try and find basic things that should all be together anyway.  My first aid kit before was some random crap thrown into a round cardboard box that I had from who knows what.  In it was mostly expired medicine, the bacitracin and two roles of expired rolaids.  The band aids were just floating around the cupboard, and the needle was sitting on the shelf above the toilet, because we all know that is the most sanitary place for something of that nature.  

Now I just need one of my midgets to get an owie and I can bust out my first aid kit and christen it with its first go round.  Not that I want one of my kids to get hurt or anything.  And actually, we just came back from the doctor today and both Truitt and Kembia have Hand, Foot and Mouth disease, and Moyz is just about guaranteed to get it too.  High fevers, not wanting to eat, I feel so bad for them, and nothing in my new kit can make them feel better.  Sick babies are not fun, and they are so sad and pathetic looking.  All I want to do is snuggle them but they already have fevers and don't need the extra body heat.